I just watched the episode myself and read this article. Now I want to put my thoughts out before reading the comments.
It wasn't a bad portrayal, it was certainly positive. But I was not entirely happy with it and what it could've done. I get they need a hook and want to show how the furry fandom helps people but the way they do it is misleading. The way it is presented, even with some of the comments by the subjects, gives the impression that the furry fandom is just collecting a bunch of damaged individuals which is not the case. They make a huge thing about anxiety but there isn't any evidence that furs are more likely to suffer anxiety than the general public. https://furscience.com/research-findings/wellness-dysfunction/11-2-psych...
I would've liked to have seen just normal furs.
The other thing I wasn't a big fan of was the treatment of sex. They didn't make it about sex which is a huge improvement over some other media treatments but the way they approached sex made it seem like sex was a negative thing. It wasn't very sex positive and I think that perpetuates negative views beyond the furry fandom.
Similar to the mental health issue, the participants weren't a great reflection of the fandom as a whole. All of them had a fursuit. That is not the case for most furs. The furry fandom is not just about fursuiting but nearly all the emphasis on the show was either about fursuiting or the furry fandom as a coping mechanism. There should've been more on art, more on stories and more on the enjoyment of the characters and less on fursuiting.
Some have called the episode out for neglecting furs of color or LGBT furs. While this is a valid complaint, I believe the benefit of the doubt should be given to CNN on this. It's an hour-long show (and good god were there a lot of commercials, cable, amiright?), and the primary focus was to describe how the fandom is an open door for people to come and be themselves, with three people as examples.
That's just ridiculous. (I realise its not necessarily your opinion.) Furs of colour or LGBT furs are just an extra thing. Like steampunk furs. That has nothing to do with the main aspects of the furry fandom. The furry fandom is not for people of a specific orientation or skin colour, it's for everyone. It's really annoying when people try to push that sort of thing onto a fandom which is about characters that mix human and animal traits. Also, there were a lot of commercials! It seemed like almost every five minutes. It's completely ridiculous.
"If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind."
~John Stuart Mill~
I just watched the episode myself and read this article. Now I want to put my thoughts out before reading the comments.
It wasn't a bad portrayal, it was certainly positive. But I was not entirely happy with it and what it could've done. I get they need a hook and want to show how the furry fandom helps people but the way they do it is misleading. The way it is presented, even with some of the comments by the subjects, gives the impression that the furry fandom is just collecting a bunch of damaged individuals which is not the case. They make a huge thing about anxiety but there isn't any evidence that furs are more likely to suffer anxiety than the general public.
https://furscience.com/research-findings/wellness-dysfunction/11-2-psych...
I would've liked to have seen just normal furs.
The other thing I wasn't a big fan of was the treatment of sex. They didn't make it about sex which is a huge improvement over some other media treatments but the way they approached sex made it seem like sex was a negative thing. It wasn't very sex positive and I think that perpetuates negative views beyond the furry fandom.
Similar to the mental health issue, the participants weren't a great reflection of the fandom as a whole. All of them had a fursuit. That is not the case for most furs. The furry fandom is not just about fursuiting but nearly all the emphasis on the show was either about fursuiting or the furry fandom as a coping mechanism. There should've been more on art, more on stories and more on the enjoyment of the characters and less on fursuiting.
That's just ridiculous. (I realise its not necessarily your opinion.) Furs of colour or LGBT furs are just an extra thing. Like steampunk furs. That has nothing to do with the main aspects of the furry fandom. The furry fandom is not for people of a specific orientation or skin colour, it's for everyone. It's really annoying when people try to push that sort of thing onto a fandom which is about characters that mix human and animal traits. Also, there were a lot of commercials! It seemed like almost every five minutes. It's completely ridiculous.
"If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind."
~John Stuart Mill~